New Rise of the Dark Spark Preview from Game Informer

If you are like me and somehow have a subscription to Game Informer, you might have received the newest issue in the mail! While the cover may be for Epic Games’ Fortnite, taking a peak inside to say… Page 71 in the previews section will show you the newest preview of the latest Transformers video game.

To begin, we are given some of the first vague details about WayForward’s Nintendo 3DS version of Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark. The game, as previously announced, is a grid-based tactical RPG (Think Advance Wars, or even Super Robot Wars) featuring over 50 Transformers characters. Game producer Andy Owen has stated that “Players will plot their next move on detailed strategic maps, and then engage in epic one-on-one 3D Battle sequences.” A screenshot of the 3DS version has also been shown, and attached to this story.

The console and PC version of Rise of the Dark Spark has some new details as well. First, the two worlds (Movieverse and WFCverse) are connected by an ancient relic known as The Dark Spark. This relic acts as a portal between the two universes and is capable “Bending the fabric of the universe to (the wielder’s) will.” It has now been confirmed that the Movieverse portion of the game will take place during and after Age of Extinction, whereas the WFC/FOC portion will take place BEFORE the launch of the Ark in Fall of Cybertron. The gameplay is very similar to Fall of Cybertron, in that the story is focused on a single character and will bounce back and forth between over 40 playable characters.

Not everything is familiar, however! Edge of Reality is trying their best to help innovate and improve upon High Moon Studio’s last three games. One of these new features is a Unified Leveling System where experience and unlocks are universal between Campaign and the returning Escalation mode and will feature new items, characters, weapons and upgrades. Secondly, “Power Foes” have been added to Escalation, where if your team lasts long enough, boss characters will appear (Such as Fall of Cybertron Megatron.)

Lastly, one other feature has been added called Hacks. Anyone who is familiar with the Halo series of games should feel right at home with this new feature, as these Hacks modify the gameplay by adding in additional variables to Escalation such as higher enemy health, or every robot becoming a massive explosion upon death. Sadly, there seems to be no analogue to the Grunt Birthday Party skull from Halo 3. Sorry Mechafire.

At this time there are no details on if the standard competitive Multiplayer (Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, etc) modes will be returning in the upcoming game.

New Rise of the Dark Spark Preview from Game Informer - Additional Images

I'd lost some faith in this title for a while now, but reading all this makes me really excited! It sounds like the developers know that since this isn't just "Let's fuck about with the Movieverse Transformers" and part of a generally well-liked series of games, they're going to be treating this title with some respect.

And as far as Escalation goes, I'm hyped as hell for bosses, and I certainly do hope for a roster of choices, rather than picking one of four. And I'm also hoping for a hybridization of WFC and FOC Escalation. I hope that the waves go to fifteen or whatever, and then you get your experience and leaderboard rankings that way, but then have the option to continue until you die. Kind of a best for both worlds, sine it can be a little daunting for a new player to look at a gamemode where there is now winning, only getting better until you die.

I'm most excited about the new and improved Escalation. After the downgrade in FoC, it'll be nice to have something that'll keep my attention longer than my three playthroughs of the campaign did (in FoC. I have almost triple the time in WfC.)

So this'll pretty much be a "Cybertron" style game? I guess Activision is just reusing assets from WFC/FOC and the DOTM game. I imagine AoE Grimlock will function exactly like in FOC. I hope I'm wrong because that means it'll just be a skin-swap for most characters. =\ Still, I'm waiting for more gameplay videos to pass final judgement.

I was hoping the 3DS game would be more along of the NDS War for Cybertron Game, I loved that game and was hoping for a similar one with better graphics.

same here. It's like the joke's on me ever since I got a 3ds. I keep waiting for a few actual 3d games to take full advantage of the unique screen and rudimentary graphic capabilities, meanwhile it seems like they're getting more sidescrollers and top-down games than ever.

spikebuster

Again i'm gonna need solid confirmation that the playable characters can transform FREELY in the 3DS game before i buy it.

So if Megatron has his FOC body then this'll have to be set between Chapters 10 and 11 of Fall Of Cybertron.That probably explains why we haven't seen Starscream or FOC Grimlock in any of the screenshots/trailers and why Shockwave still has his arm on the box art.I really hope they don't mess up the timeline.

The FoC side of things being flashbacks or the characters on that side even going to Earth at any point after FoC's events aren't even confirmed. If the FoC characters end up fighting on Earth, it'll most likely be due to their connection to the AoE universe and characters passing from one to another.

The only character who crosses both is Grimlock allegedly.

Also, didn't the preview say that it takes place before they get on the Arc, not between WfC and FoC? This probably means that given this film we're only getting copies of Optimus, Bumblebee and Grimlock.

We know Inseticons are still in, as is Swindle (probably the rest of the Combaticons) so is Sideswipe. What I hope for is the full playable cast of bots from the last 2 games and movie bots from the DOTM game.

Maybe we'll get to see what actually happened to Barricade, Breakdown and the Seekers.

So a portal that connects both universes? So this a dimensional portal, not a time one? I'm not too crazy about dimension crossing, but at least they didn't do a direct tie from WfC-verse to Movie-verse (thank Primus). This also means that timeline-wise, this isn't a sequal to WfC/FoC. Still boggles the mind when trying to make any sort of logical sense to it (which is pointless considering the source ).

Honestly, I think it depends on who the playable characters will be before I decide if I'm going to buy or rent this game in the future. 40 does seem like a great amount, but how many of those characters are going to just be the same character = just different universe/time?

Yes the gameplay on Cybertron are flashbacks, but we will find out what happened after FOC on the earth missions

The FoC side of things being flashbacks or the characters on that side even going to Earth at any point after FoC's events aren't even confirmed. If the FoC characters end up fighting on Earth, it'll most likely be due to their connection to the AoE universe and characters passing from one to another.